History of Plant Biotechnology Development

It is difficult to write a review on the history of plant biotechnology, especially after the excellent works of Vasil (Plant Cell Rep 27(9):1423-1440, 2008) Thorpe (Mol Biotechnol 37:169-180, 2007), and Sussex (Plant Cell 20 (5):1189-1198, 2008). It is even more difficult to overview the current state of this fast-developing field. Nevertheless, in this review we will make an attempt not only to make a narrative of main stages but also to show the links between plant biotechnology and latest progress in biological science. Plant biotechnology has its roots deep in human civilization but was established just a century ago. Starting outside the science mainstream of the time period, classical plant biotechnology slowly but steadily grew into a recognized discipline. The explosive growth of biology research at the end of the twentieth century brought plant biotechnology to the fast-track line. The field grew very rapidly and currently turned into a key tool for fundamental research and practical uses. Currently plant biotechnology has been essentially grown, and new disciplines as omics technologies as genome editing have arisen which further intensify both fundamental and practical studies in biology and make a bridge with other scientific areas as informatics, nanotechnology, and so-called digital and intelligent science. As such modern biotechnology speeds up the development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Schwab, The fourth industrial revolution. World Economic Forum. ISBN 1944835008, 2016).